GILLINGHAM: RE-ORGANIZE CITY HALL STAFF TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE

To build Winnipeg’s economy and improve customer service, mayoral candidate ScottGillingham believes “we need a ‘yes’ culture at City Hall where staff are moving quickly to helpresidents and investors get things done legally and practically.”

To deliver on that goal, Gillingham will ask Council to approve and monitor key performanceindicators to professionally evaluate service delivery. However, he also said a shake-up of CityHall’s structure is needed to get more focus on customer service.“

We task some of our departments with policy, regulation, enforcement and service all at thesame time, and sometimes, those goals are colliding,” Gillingham said.

With this in mind, in consultation with councillors and senior managers, Gillingham will seek adepartmental reorganization over the next term of office to achieve at least two goals:

• Improve customer service by bringing public -facing customer service units like 311and permit approvals into a single department, led by a manager with expertise incustomer service fulfillment, and

• Unite scattered by-law enforcement units together wherever possible to increasecross-training and improve enforcement standards.

The reorganization would be designed to avoid adding new management costs. However,Gillingham supports adding at least six development case officers to the public service to helpbusinesses and citizens secure faster permits and development approvals.

Under Gillingham’s proposal, development case officers would report to the new customerservice department rather than the existing Property, Planning and Development department,giving the new case officers the freedom to independently flag problematic delays, practices orprocedures to City Council and senior management.